NSU Earth Club Champions of the Earth 2: The Grand Finale

The NSU Champions of the Earth (COE) is a grand platform provided by the Earth Club of North South Universityfor students here and abroad to present their ideas and plans regarding sustainable living and solutions to environmental issues.

As mentioned in the previous article the competition in its second season received around 650 ideas. After levels of presentations, speculation and judgment, the final battle came down to seven teams and their seven sustainable solutions for the future.

The Grand Finale took place with all its might at the Plaza Area of North South University (NSU) on Friday, 29th of January 2016. After a brief introduction of the Earth Club and COE competition, the judges were introduced to the audience.

The Judges for Champions of the Earth |Photo Courtesy: Anirudha Haq Mukhor, Earth Club of North South University

The judges:

Pratip Mandal is an Orthopedic Surgeon. After his fellowship in Joint Replacement and Sports Medicine from NUH (National University Hospital), Singapore, he practiced in New Delhi, India with special interest in complex arthroscopic reconstruction. He took up a research at a specialized endoscopic spinal surgery center in Frederick, Maryland. Furthered his interest in wellness with a certificate in Physical Activity in Public Health from the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) and certified and volunteered as an EMT in Fairfax county, Virginia. He moved to Dhaka in August 2015. Presently engaged with Grameen Kalyan (Health) and Dhaka Community Hospital, a non-profit hospital and medical college with focus on the poor.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan is an attorney and environmentalist. She has particularly focused on regulations for the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh, and was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2009. She was also awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2012 for her “uncompromising courage and impassioned leadership in a campaign of judicial activism in Bangladesh that affirms the people’s right to a good environment as nothing less than their right to dignity and life.”

Myounghwa Sim has been working as a mechanical/piping engineer in the oil and gas industry for 8 years.
Having worked for Samsung Heavy Industries as a mechanical/piping engineer and Daewoo International America Corp. as a sales engineer, she moved to Dhaka in Feb 2015.

Team Presentation | Photo Courtesy: Anirudha Haq Mukhor, Earth Club of North South University

The esteemed guests were Dr. Md. Liakatha Ali,Director of Programmes and Policy Advocacy, WaterAid, M.A. Hashem,Chairman, Board of Trustees, NSU; Prof. Dr. M. Emdadul Haq, Director of Student Affairs, North South University and Prof. Md. Jakariya, Ph.D, Chairman, Department of Environmental Science and Management, North South University. Special Guest for the evening was Prof. Dr. Gour Gobinda Goswami, Chancellor (in-charge), North South University.

The evening heated up with the battle among the best ideas as the teams one by one started presenting their plans for a sustainable future. The final seven teams are: ‘Youth’s Voice’, ‘Team Dexter’, ‘Green Matter’, ‘Pluto Is Lost’, ‘Serial Killers’, ‘Green Peas’ and ‘Team KD’.

In between the presentation session and the results, crests were handed over to the Judges and Mentors followed by a beautiful cultural program. The competition started through an orientation program on the 1st of December 2015. After which the teams were asked to present their ideas in different rounds of the competition that finally brought us the top seven teams.

The winning teams | Photo Courtesy: Anirudha Haq Mukhor, Earth Club of North South University

Finally came the long awaited moment when ‘Team Dexters’ were announced the champions. Teams named ‘Pluto is Lost’ and ‘Serial Killers’ became first and second runner-up respectively.